Mobility Startup Grow to Invest R$25 Million in Electric Scooter Plant in Manaus
RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The Latin American mobility startup Grow announced on Friday, July 26th, that it will establish an electric scooter and bicycle production plant in the Manaus Free Trade Zone. With an estimated investment of R$25 million (US$6.25 million) in infrastructure and operation costs, the plant will cover 5,000 m² and is expected to start operating in early 2020. The project was approved in a meeting of the board of directors of the Manaus Free Zone Superintendency (CAS) on Thursday, July 25th.
Resulting from a merger between startups Grin (Mexican) and Yellow (Brazilian), the company expects to produce approximately 100,000 vehicles per year at the plant. The project will employ around a hundred people and generate over 500 indirect jobs in the region. According to Marcelo Loureiro, co-founder and vice-president of Grow, the plant was a long-standing plan of the company, even before the merger, but it was slow in coming to fruition.
The consumer will be able to experience this in terms of lower cost and in Grow’s presence in cities: according to Loureiro, its own production will result in a cost reduction of at least thirty percent for the company — and part of this may be transferred to the final travel fare.
However, the CEO is still unable to anticipate the amount of any price reduction. Today, each scooter ride costs R$3, plus R$0.50 per minute of use. Besides, the cost reduction may enable the company to expand to more cities in Brazil, according to Loureiro: “We want to go beyond the major centers.”
According to him, the startup is currently optimizing its services — open positions, for instance, are only for replacement personnel. Today, Grow has 2,000 employees in Latin America. Of these, 1,300 are in Brazil, divided between offices (300 people) and operations and maintenance (1,000). “By the end of the year, we’ll be at the same level. We want to do more with the same number of people,” he says.
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